First Clip & Official Teaser Trailer From Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER – Stars Steve Carell

Having its world premiere today, May 19th, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2014,  Sony Pictures Classics has released the first clip and teaser trailer for their upcoming film FOXCATCHER, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.

Variety film editor Ramin Setoodeh says Carell, “gives one of the most transformative performances of the year” and the actor is “an Oscar lock.”

Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter) writes,”Playing a young man who doesn’t have a clue how to articulate his feelings and suffers for it, Tatum is a smoldering, festering piece of emotional raw meat, able to be manipulated this way and that by his benefactor. You feel his pain.”

Read Justin Chang’s (Variety) review HERE and Craig Kennedy’s (Living in Cinema) review HERE.

Directed by Bennett Miller, the film opens in theaters on November 14th.

“I Want To Win Gold” Clip

Based on true events, FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers.

When Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to the du Pont estate and help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his new state-of-the-art training facility, Schultz jumps at the opportunity, hoping to focus on his training and finally step out of the shadow of his revered brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo). Driven by hidden needs, du Pont sees backing Schultz’s bid for Gold and the chance to “coach” a world-class wrestling team as an opportunity to gain the elusive respect of his peers and, more importantly, his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave).

Flattered by the attention and entranced by du Pont’s majestic world, Mark comes to see his benefactor as a father figure and grows increasingly dependent on him for approval. Though initially supportive, du Pont’s mercurial personality turns and he begins to lure Mark into an unhealthy lifestyle that threatens to undermine his training. Soon du Pont’s erratic behavior and cruel psychological game-play begin to erode the athlete’s already shaky self-esteem. Meanwhile du Pont becomes fixated on Dave, who exudes the confidence both he and Mark lack, knowing that these are things even his money cannot buy. Fueled by du Pont’s increasing paranoia and alienation from the brothers, the trio is propelled towards a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

FOXCATCHER is a rich and moving story of brotherly love, misguided loyalty and the corruption and emotional bankruptcy that can accompany great power and wealth. As with Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller’s previous feature films, CAPOTE and MONEYBALL, he explores large themes in society through his complex character portraits of real people.

The film also features Sienna Miller and Anthony Michael Hall.

Photos by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.